First-ever 'GatorCam' provides animal-eye view at Gatorland

A miniature video camera is attached to a live alligator for what is believed to be the first time ever.

A miniature video camera is attached to a live alligator for what is believed to be the first time ever.

Joe BurbankOrlando Sentinel

Meet Mona.

She is the 7-foot, 160-pound star of Gatorland's "Florida Cracker" style Alligator Wrestlin' Show. In our continuing series of crazy things we do with Team Florida 360's GoPro video cameras --you may remember my escapades with DuckCam and KiteCam-- I decided to make a go at 'GatorCam,' with the idea of attaching a modified chest camera harness to Mona for a unique, alligator point-of-view angle.

Naturally, my first phone call was to Tim Williams, Gatorland's veteran 'Dean of Gator Wrestling,' considered one of the foremost alligator experts in the world.

"I don't think this has ever been done with an alligator," Williams told me, as we hatched a careful plan to turn Mona into an enterprising young videographer. As Williams and his gator wrangling team slipped the nylon harness, with the miniature video camera mounted in an underwater housing, onto Mona's back, I then came in to check the positioning and settings and then start the camera rolling. Making a bit of history with the first-time footage, Mona did a fabulous job of documenting the behind-the-scenes adventure, including some cool underwater moments with her fellow reptile wrestlers. We added two other cameras to the project: one strapped to the forehead of gator wrangler Joel Curtis, and a third camera on a tripod for the audience perspective.

As much fun as the GatorCam project was, Williams emphasizes the importance of Gatorland's commitment to education and animal care.

"We wanted to show the wrestling gator's point of view as to what it's like to be the star of the show," he said. "It's important because the stars here at Gatorland are the animals, the gators. We know that. We respect that. We've never had the opportunity to give their point of view, so this is going to be a first," Williams said.

Dubbed the "Alligator Capital of the World," Gatorland --located south of Orlando on U.S. 441-- was founded in 1949 and features a 110-acre wildlife preserve, breeding marsh and swamp containing thousands of alligators, reptiles, birds and animals.

"People have a fascination with alligators," Williams added. "We do (wrestling) in a manner that is fun; we don't do anything to hurt the animal, and we want to make sure that when people walk out of here they have a little more knowledge and little more respect for alligators...It's truly a marvelous animal."

Photographer Joe Burbank can be reached at jburbank@orlandosentinel.com. To follow the entire Sentinel photo staff and Team Florida 360, Like us on Facebook: Orlando Sentinel Photography and Twitter@OSPhoto.